Index to "Paupers in Workhouses 1861" (10% sample)

Introduction

RETURNS "from each WORKHOUSE in England and Wales, of the Name
of every ADULT PAUPER in each WORKHOUSE who has been an Inmate
of the Workhouse during a continuous Period of Five Years;
stating the Amount of Time that each of such Inmates shall have
been in the Workhouse, and the Reason assigned why such Persons
are unable to maintain themselves........"

This national index of paupers in workhouses has been compiled
from a Parliamentary Paper, number 490 of 1861. It names some
14,200 adult* paupers in England and Wales who had been in
receipt of parish relief for a continuous period of five years
or more.

* aged 16 years and upwards

The full name of the pauper is given, followed by "The reason
assigned why the Pauper in each case is unable to maintain himself
or herself" and finally the full term of the relief in years
and months. Another column in the report is headed "Whether or not the
Pauper has been brought up in a District or Workhouse School".
As this last column was imperfectly completed, the brief notes
it contains have not been included here. However, all the other
information is contained in the index. which is a strict
alphabetical listing of individuals named in the report.
(N.B. This on-line version is a 10% sample of the full index which
is available on microfiche).

From a genealogical point of view the value of the report cannot
be overstated. It was submitted to parliament on the 29th of
July 1861, and ordered to be published the following day. The
information it contains dovetails nicely with the 1861 census
returns. The census that year was conducted on Sunday the 7th of
April, so it is certain that the information-gathering processes
for the report and the census would have overlapped. The accuracy
of the information contained in the report can be proved quite simply by
comparing it against the census returns.

It is pertinent to say that a large proportion of the paupers
mentioned in the index (about 6,000) were admitted because of
old age and infirmity. Almost as many again (about 5,000)
suffered from a mental disease. Various combinations of ailments
and mental conditions will be noted by the casual user of the
index, and among the unusual (or least common) reasons for being
admitted to the workhouse are laziness, desertion of the
husband, widowhood, destitution and being orphaned. It is
interesting, at this late date, to note there are a few cases of
wives having been admitted because their husbands had been
sentenced to transportation. There are also a couple of cases of
paupers having been born and bred in the workhouse, but Timothy
Goss (St George's, Hanover Square), who had been in receipt of
parish relief for 70 continuous years was not one of them.